Prepping hides to be tanned

[SFC B]

For the upcoming season I would really liked to get some hides tanned. This is the best possible scenario.....Elk hide tanned into a robe/rug, deer hides tanned into buckskin to be used in clothing/accesories and a prongy tanned into a rug.

Question is what do I do once it is down? I have never had the ability or wish to get anything done before so I want to make sure that I have a handle on field prep. Here is what I THINK I know....

1. Skin as close as possible without cutting the hide.
2. Flesh as much a possible without cutting the hide.
3. Pack with salt, roll and weight on some sort of incline to try and extract liquid.

That is all I have so I wait patiently for knowledge :hump:

 

[woodsman]

I believe the salt must be free of iodine.

 

[muleguy]

What i know-Use plenty of salt and shake out the salt after first 24hrs and re-salt with new salt-this helps to set the hair

 

[trevore]

Are you planning on tanning the hides yourself?

Iodine won't necessarily hurt. It may leave little purple stains on the skin, which wouldn't be good on buck skin.

Lay them out flat on an incline and salt them. Make sure you salt all the way to the edges.

Don't roll or fold them yet.

Let drain overnight and then salt them again. Let salt set for 2-3 days.

Then hang them up and let them start to get crispy. They should be flexible still but not wet.

Fold them up, hair to hair, as small as you can get them.

 

[JDH]

I have tanned two deer hides myself with a kit from McKenzies. I just followed the instructions on the video and they turned out great if you're interested in doing it yourself. If I remember correctly the first few steps involved the salting and removing all the meaty parts.

 

[SFC B]

I am not gnnna do it myself or I would become single

 

[Dead Head]

Check out some tanneries that take in frozen hides. Once you have the hide you want roll up into a ball freeze it and ship it out. It costs a little bit extra but it save the hassle of your time and trying to salt and fleshing it. I use Micro Tan check them out. They also take salted hides but then again your trying to salt it with out it going bad and slipping.

 

[Triple BB]

You always need to flesh them out. Spend some time doing this step. I use salt from a livestock feed store. Put the salt on and let it set for a day or two. Remove the salt and put on a fresh layer. Pay attention to the hide as it starts to dry. You want the hide flexible enough to roll and fit into a box for shipping. Don't ship in a plastic bag. It needs to breath. I tape everything well so salt isn't coming out the seams of the box. My buddy is a taxidermist. They flesh, salt and re-salt as noted above except he let's his hides lay out flat until they dry hard in a cool room with some air circulation. He doesn't do anything relating to rolling them up as he delivers all of his capes for the season directly to the tannery. Point being, the only reason not to let them dry rock hard is for shipping purposes if they need to go in a box.

 

[JDH]

I am not gnnna do it myself or I would become single

Yeah, my wife was "surprised" when she came home and there was a hide in the tub.